Apple TV Review

Written by
Dwaine Smith

With the holidays around the corner, many will be looking to purchase the hottest tech gifts out on the market. With our Apple TV review, we hope to give you a quick understanding of a gift many will be unwrapping this holiday season.

Let’s start off with the price tag first, the new Apple TV retails for a $150 for the 32-Gigabyte model and $200 for the 64 one. Inside the box, you will get the new Apple TV, the new remote controller, a cable to connect the unit to the wall, some documentation, stickers and a USB cable to charge the controller. The new Apple TV device itself is just a little bit taller than the previous generation, which works better than other consoles that have gone with a wider form because they tend not to fit in people medias centers. Other than the height change the device is pretty much the same as before. Matte finish on the top, smooth edges around the sides and the rubber bottom, so it doesn’t get pulled or moved around by any cords around your entertainment center.

The new remote for the Apple TV, there are two different finishes on the top of the remote. The top half is a trackpad that feels a lot like a MacBook trackpad and the bottom is a glossy glass finish. The buttons featured on the remote are a menu button, sleep button, Siri button, up and down button and a play/pause button. All those buttons function differently depending on what app you are in, but each app will tell you individually what each button use is for each app. The great thing about these buttons is that it allows a bunch of different apps to work extremely well with the need for a second remote controller for gaming. The controller does have an accelerometer that allows it to work great for a game like “Asphalt” or the touchpad on the top is going to work perfectly for a bunch of puzzle or similar games. It’s wonderful that it has all those features built directly into one controller. The controller is small, light and made of high-quality materials, it looks like a tiny iPod touch that has an elegant silver back and black front. The buttons give the user a good response when clicked, and the trackpad itself clicks, so you can scroll through apps and click on them.

The most important part of the new Apple TV are the applications. Apple has finally allowed developers to upload apps they have created onto the Apple TV store. Now developers are permitted to create for a new medium, and there are a lot of developers that have been waiting for the chance to develop apps for the Apple TV. Many may wonder what are the point of the apps or why you would you want an app on the big screen? The apps will work seamlessly for the Apple TV; games like Raymond and Asphalt look fabulous, and some may say they look better than on other consoles. The graphics are incredible considering that Apple TV doesn’t support 4K, it only supports 1080p, so no 4K movie watching just yet. A great example of an app is the QVC app. You can watch a live stream of QVC, click a button and buy what you see on the screen. There are however only a few dozen great apps available on the Apple TV and, unfortunately, many bad apps. The major companies such as Netflix, HBO, and Hulu all have great apps, but a few of them do require authentication and a cable subscriptions to have them work. If you do have a cable subscription, then the Apple TV works great to put in a room without a cable box.

The setup process for the Apple TV is quite simple but long. The keyboard on the Apple TV system is not very user-friendly to many users. The keys are laid out in a horizontal alphabetical pattern that makes for typing tedious; they should have gone for the box type of keyboard.

Siri is part of Apple TV, and it has some pretty neat features. Siri can pull up captions for you if you ask “What did he/she say?” while you are watching a video clip. You, however, can not type into the search bar using Siri, which is a let down considering how poor the keyboard is laid out. Siri can fast forward or rewind while you are watching a movie or video clip.

All in all the Apple TV is an excellent product that is lighting fast and will keep its customers happy. However the lack of quality apps is a letdown, and the keyboard hopefully will be changed with an update. If you are a fan of Apple’s products and want to get the new Apple TV, you will enjoy the product. Do you have an app idea for the Apple TV? Contact Seamgen for help!

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About once a month, we’ll keep you on top of everything you need to know in technology & design, and all the latest here at Seamgen.

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Nice!

You’ve made a wise decision. Emails are sent out about once a month, so keep your eyes peeled. Look for a monthly roll up from us on what we’re up to and the latest in technology, design & industry trends.